Photo at upper right: A small, shy deer
known as the SOUTHERN PUDU,
photographed during a FONT tour in southern Chile
There have been 19 FONT tours in Chile.

Codes:(t): a
globally threatened species,
designated by the IUCN (the
International Union for Conservation of Nature)
(t1):
critically endangered (t2):
endangered (t3): vulnerable
(nt): a globally near-threatened species, designated by the IUCN

(CHe): an endangered in Chile
(CHt): a threatened species in Chile
(CHv): a vulnerable species in Chile
(CHi): an introduced species in Chile

cc: in
central Chile, near Santiago
ca:
in central Chile, in the Andes, and the nearby foothills
cs:
in central Chile, along the seacoast
so:
in southern Chile (including Chiloe Island)
fn: in
far-northern Chile, from Arica on the coast to Lauca National Park in the High Andes
fs: in far-southern Chile, in Patagonia
(tf): on
the island Tierra del Fuego in far-southern Chile, or in nearby waters

Monito del Monte (CHt) ______
so (also called Chiloe
Colocolo Opossum)
Dromiciops gliroides (the single member of its genus & family)CH: Monito del Monte
The Monito del Monte is a primitive marsupial that lives in cool moist forests with bamboo thickets
on Chiloe Island and elsewhere in nearby southern Chile.

European Rabbit (CHin) (*) ______
caOryctolagus cuniculus
(the single member of
its genus)CH: Conejo

BEAVER - Family Castoridae

American Beaver (CHin) (ph) ______ Castor canadensisCH: CastorThe American Beaver was
introduced in Tierra del Fuego in 1946 by Argentine fur breeders. When the
fur industry declined, animals from that trade went into the wild. They
spread north from the Strait of Magellan into the Andean forests of southern
Chile, and they have colonized on many of the Fuegian
islands.

AKODONTS (Akodontini) are as large
tribe, of 106 species, of small to medium-sized field mice and grass mice,
distributed mainly in the southern half of South America.
They are adapted to terrestrial and semi-fossorial life, and they have a
tail shorter than their head and body length.

Andean Big-eared Mouse
_____ (also called Lofty Pericote) (in
Chile, in the north; on open rocky slopes of high altiplano)
Auliscomys sublimisCH: Pericote andinoThe Lofty Pericote (or Andean
Big-eared Mouse) occurs up to 19,700 feet above sea level, one of the
highest elevations for a mammal in the Western Hemisphere.

Montane Guinea-Pig (CHt) ______ fn
(in Chile, in the Andes of Arica and Tarapaca; also in Peru, Bolivia, and
Argentina, found in wet meadows with scattered rocks from about 6,500 to
12,450 feet above sea level)Cavia tschudii
CH: Cuy serrano

The wild Montane Guinea-Pig is probably the ancestor of
the Domestic Guinea-Pig, which is commonly kept as a pet in many
countries and is widely used in scientific research.

Guinea-Pigs have been named for their pig-like squealing sounds. The
word "guinea" may derive from the guinea: a gold
coin that was the price of the animal when it was first marketed in England.
Or, it may possibly refer to Guineamen (from Guyana), the slave
traders who were among the first to bring the animals from South America to
England.

In the Andes of South America, the Incas selectively bred the Montane
Guinea-Pig, or the "Cuy serrano",
to show a wide variety of colors. They also raised it for use in sacred
rites, as the animal figured in their altiplano ceremonies and
rituals.

Today, Guinea-Pigs are kept by people in the high Andes as a source
of meat and an item barter. A mated pair is a typical household gift to
newlyweds, guests, or children. The animals are usually kept in the
household kitchen where they are permitted to run about freely. Adobe
hutches (known as cuyeros) are provided for the animal's shelters. Women and
children are the primary caregivers.

Octodonts (Octodontidae)
are rat-like, ground-dwelling or burrowing herbivores, mostly in the
Andes Mountains of South America. They have dense silky hair with a
well-developed undercoat. Octodonts are gray or brown, except for the Coruro, which is
black. The Tuco-tucos are large, burrowing rodents, endemic to South
America, ranging from Peru to Tierra del Fuego, with discontinuous
distribution into eastern Brazil.
The name Tuco-tuco is from the call of the animals, sounded in their
burrows. Tuco-tucos have a robust, cylindrical body and a large head with
small ears and small eyes. The eyes are near the top of the
head.

Coruro (CHe) (*) ______
so (also called Maulean
Coruro)(this rare
animal was seen during a FONT tour on Chiloe Island)
Spalacopus cyanus (the single member of its genus)
CH: Coruro

Degus live in colonies in the sclerophyll woodland. They do not
hibernate.

Degus dig communal galleries which have multiple entries that are
hidden by bushes and low trees. The tunnels have separate latrine areas,
nesting chambers, and storage areas where food is cached for the winter.
Sticks, stones, and droppings deposited at the burrow entrance are
territorial markers.

The first chinchilla that was
exported from Chile went to the London Zoo in 1820. Later, another went to
the Hamburg Zoo in 1865.
Commercial breeding began in 1918 after Mathias Chapman, an American
engineer for the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., obtained permits to collect chinchillas
in the Andes.Chinchilla numbers had been so reduced by overhunting by that time
that it took a team of 23 men 3 years to find 11 suitable animals! It took
another year to slowly bring the animals down from the Andes and acclimate
them to their new surroundings.
The chinchillas were then carried by ship to California. By the time
they arrived in Los Angeles in February 1923, the first young had been born
onboard.
Thus began the chinchilla farming and pet trade in North
America.

The Chinchillas in Chile in the list
below
are the wild cousins of those kept as pets,
such as the animal above, in Canada.
Notice the pudgy face!

Lagidium viscacia
was called the Mountain Viscacha until it was split to be the Southern
Viscacha and further north in Peru and possibly Bolivia, the Northern
Viscacha, Lagidium peruanum.

Two photos above of what has been called the Mountain Viscacha, both taken during FONT
tours.
This animal has been
seen
during our tours in Argentina & Chile.
It's an odd creature, with a tail like that of a squirrel, and a head like
that of a rabbit.

The Wolffsohn's Viscacha is larger than the "Mountain"
(the Southern & Northern) Viscachas. Its coloration
is golden-brown and it has short black ears.

CHINCHILLA-RATS - Family Abrocomidae

Chinchilla-Rats are mid-sized rodents that have stiff hairs projecting
over the nails of the three central digits of the hind feet. Other features
are short limbs, a pointed snout, large ears, and a fairly short and
tapering tail.

Ashy Chinchilla-Rat _____
fn (lives in small colonies and digs tunnels at the base of
boulders and shrubs in arid rocky places in the high Andes of northern
Chile, up to 16,500 feet above sea level.)
Abrocoma cinerea

The Ashy Chinchilla-Rat is
smaller than the Bennett's Chinchilla-Rat and has a much shorter
tail.

In Chile, the Kodkod ranges from Biobio to Aisen, especially in Chiloe and
the Guaitecas. It is also in southwest Argentina. it occurs in bamboo
thickets in Araucarian and Valdivian rainforests, from sea level to 8,200
feet.
The Kodkod is classified as vulnerable due to
deforestation.

A South American Gray Fox photographed during the
November 2009 FONT tour in Chile (photo by Robert Hinz)

Darwin's Fox (t1) (CHe) (ph) ______ so(has also been
called Chiloe Fox; was said to be a darker form of
the Pampas Fox)Lycalopes fulvipes
(has also been Pseudalopex, or Dusicyongymnocercus
fulvipes) CH: Zorro chilote

The Darwin's Fox was known from
only a specimen collected by Charles Darwin in 1833, until it was
rediscovered in 1922. It is now considered a relict species confined to
patches of old growth Valdivian forest in Los Lagos and Araucania. It is a
critically endangered species.

Looking down from a
bridge on a Lesser Grison as it goes into the woods,
during the FONT tour in central & southern Chile in November 2011.
Another photo of a Lesser Grison below. (above photo by
Frank Stermitz)

American Mink (CHin) (ph) ______
(native to North America; has spread from Argentina into
southern Chile)
Neovison (Mustela) vison

A Guanaco photographed during a FONT tour. This
animal has been
seen during our tours in both Argentina & Chile.

Vicuna (CHv) (*) (ph) ______ fnVicugna vicugnaCH: Vicuna

Vicunas photographed during a FONT tour. This
animal has been seen
during our tours in northwest Argentina & in northern Chile.

Llama (*) ______
fn (a domesticated animal)Lama glamaCH: Llama

Alpaca (*)
_____ fn(a domesticated animal)
Vicugna pacos
CH: Alpaca

Some Notes about the
South American Lamoids
(the Llama, Alpaca, Guanaco, Vicuna)There are 4 species of South American Lamoids.
2 are wild (the Vicuna and the Guanaco). 2 are
domesticated(the Llama and the Alpaca).
In Argentina: 8% of the South American Lamoids, and 96% of the
Guanacos.
Combined there are an estimated 7.7 million of
these animals, with 53% in Peru, 37% in Bolivia, 8% in Argentina, and 2% in
Chile.
The domestic Llamas and Alpacas (91% of the total) are far more numerous
than the wild Guanacos and Vicunas (9%). Llamas (3.7 million) are slightly
more abundant than Alpacas (3.3 million) and Guanacos (575,000) are much
more common than Vicunas (85,000).
Most Alpacas (91%) and Vicunas (72%) are in Peru, and the majority of
Llamas
(70%) are in Bolivia, and nearly all of the Guanacos (96%) are in Argentina.
The Guanaco has been decreasing during recent years due to hunting and
competition with livestock. The Vicuna was reduced to a dangerously low
population in the 1960's, but the species is now recovering under
protection.

The Pygmy Blue Whale is a
poorly known subspecies of the Blue Whale. It is smaller, and does
range as far into polar waters as the Blue Whale. In the summer of 2003, nursing and
feeding grounds of the Blue Whale were discovered (and possibly those
of the PygmyBlue Whale) were discovered off Chile in the Gulf
of Corcovado and off the west coast of Chiloe.

Blue Whale(photo by
Armas Hill)

Other Nature:

In 1992, a probable extra-terrestrial object
(a meteorite fragment): Found in the Andes, not far from where we saw the Diademed
Plover.
It was a light-weight, nearly spherical, dark-colored
"rock". Upon our return to the U.S., there was an article in "Sky
& Telescope Magazine" referring to such objects in that area.